Putin: Others Exploiting Crash

Putin: Others Exploiting Crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out Monday against those who he said were exploiting the downing of a passenger jet in eastern Ukraine for “mercenary objectives.”

Putin said Russia was doing everything possible to allow a team of experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency, to investigate the scene. He also again criticized the Ukraine authorities in Kiev for reigniting the fighting with the pro-Russian rebels who control the crash site.

“We can say with confidence that if fighting in eastern Ukraine had not been renewed on June 28, this tragedy would not have happened,” Putin said. “Nobody should or does have a right to use this tragedy for such mercenary objectives.”

Putin is coming under increasing international pressure to rein in the rebels in Ukraine and allow international inspectors to investigate the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was downed Thursday over Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

On Sunday, the United States presented what it called “powerful” evidence that the rebels shot down the plane with a Russian surface-to-air missile.

“Russia is supporting these separatists. Russia is arming these separatists. Russia is training these separatists,” Secretary of State John Kerry said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’